Chequamegon Fat Tire race entries hit the street

After a month in a serious deep freeze, the folks burrowed in the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival offices were all too happy to welcome a weekend thaw and start the entry process for the big race in September.

Gary Crandall, the race director, put hard-copy entry forms for the Fat Tire 40 and the Short & Fat in the mail on Friday and activated the link for entries on the race web site.

The mass mailing went to those who left self-addressed stamped envelopes at the 2008 registration desk. Others need to request a copy by mail, or print it off the race web site.

For those unfamiliar with the process: entries must be returned to the Fat Tire office no later than March 15, to be included in the lottery for the 2,500 spots in the starting field. Last year, the demand for suffering left about 1,000 unfortunate souls without bib numbers.

There must be something about these events with limited fields and unlimited agony that drives demand. The Horribly Hilly Hundreds, the ride with 10,000 feet of climbing in the hills west of Madison, filled up 1,000 slots last month in less than 14 minutes.

I missed the start line for that entry race, which means I'll have to keep my fingers crossed for good fortune in two lotteries this cycling season.